Display rack



Feb. 21. 1956 M. J. sHNlTzLER ET AL 2,735,552

DISPLAY RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 13, 1950 /NV-/VT5 MEYER J.SHN|TZLER RO ERT I .SINCLAIR Feb- 21, 1956 M. J. sHNlTzLr-:R ET AL 2,735,552

DISPLAY RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June l5, 1950 United States Patent DISPLAY RACK Meyer J. Shnitzler, Brookline, and Robert L. Sinclair, Cambridge, Mass., assgnors to The Gillette Company, a corporation of Delaware Application June 13, 1950, Serial No. 167,801

12 Claims. (Cl. 211-49) A This invention comprises a new and improved rack 'for kdisplaying attractively and conspicuously to prospective customers one or more sales articles. The rack is herein disclosed in its application to packaged safety ra'z'or sets, but it is not limited in its eld to that nor to any specific type of goods, but may be usefully adapted to handle many packages usually sold over the counter of retail stores.

In general, it is the object of the invention to provide a rack that may be manufactured and assembled at low cost that will be pleasing in appearance and to which the packaged goods may be conveniently presented and as conveniently removed one by one if desired. Preferably, and as herein shown, the rack comprises essentially two parts, a' flat base which may be readily molded of resinous plastic compositions, and an upstanding metal bail having spaced legs that engage and retain the displayed packages.

A feature of the rack is that the bail may be constructed and arranged to interlock with the base in a manner requiring a certain amount of initial spring resistance to be overcome, so that when the bail is once in place, it requires more than an accidental or inadvertent force to disengage the base and bail.

As herein shown, the legs of the bail have laterally disposed feet that are shaped for interlocking engagement with thepbase and which serve to maintain interlocked relation by reason of the resiliency of the bail as a whole and particularly the resistance of the legs to springing. The two parts of the improved rack may be separately manufactured and assembled by springing the legs of the bail so that they may be entered in appropriate openings or sockets in the base. An advantage of this construction is that the rack may be shipped in knocked-down condition, occupying little space and then assembled or erected where the display is to be put on.

The top of the bail is formed as an offset loop so that the vertical sides or legs of the bail have no obstruction to the introduction of the packages thereto; that is, the vertical legs of the bail extend without obstruction throughout their entire length. Accordingly, packages having vertical grooves in their walls may be readily threaded in position on the bail and will drop by gravity upon the base or upon the next underlying package.

The packages are thus held securely in the rack in position for display and can be removed only by sliding them upwardly and disengaging them from the bail through the opening provided by the olfset loop at its upper end.

As an optional feature, the rack of the invention may carry an advertising card and this may be connectedto the loop of the bail.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the appended claims, and from the following description of a preferred embodi ment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the. accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a view in perspective of a rack complete with a charge of packages and. erected advertising card.

` Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a View in perspective of the case for the safety razor set, shown in open position.

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the base and portions of the bail, and

Fig. 5` is a similar view of the base looking from 'the rear and showing portions of the bail in partially as'- sembled condition.

The particular goods` for which the'present rack is designed comprises a case-enclosed safety razor set. Such a case is illustrated in Fig. 3. It includes a generally rectangular tray or box portion which may advantageously be molded from Vinylite, Lucite, or other resinous plastic. The tray 10 has internal partitions 11 and 12 and a hinged cover 13 having an internal partition 14. The opposite side walls of the tray have vertical grooves or external recesses 15 which are aligned with grooves 16 in the opposite Walls of the cover when the latter is closed. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the grooves are located substantially nearer to the rear Wall of the case than toits front wall and so may be aptly termed rearwardly-located grooves, the important consideration being that they be located so as to present at least the bulk of the case conspicuously in advance of the upright legs or standards of the rack. The case itself is the subject matter of copending application Serial No. 156,734 tiled April 19, 1950.

The base 17 of the rack is rectangular in outline and may be constructed of any desired material; for example', it may be molded of any suitable resinous plastic. The base is generally flat with bevelled edges and has an aperture 18 of substantial area symmetrically located therein and provided at each side with a recess having a floor or ledge 19 depressed substantially below the uppersurface of the base. At one end of each recess is a solid vertical wall 20 and at the other a vertical wall 21 having a hori'- zontally-'opening socket 22 therein which is substantially ush at its lower edge with the oor 19 of the recess. A rectangular lug 23 extends out into each of the' recesses in us'h relation with the upper surface of the `base and this forms a vertically-opening socket 24 at the endl of the recess opposite to the horizontally-opening socket 22'. The floor 19 of each recess beneath the lugs 23 is provided with an aperture 25 for the purpose of having material. The base as a whole may be solid or it may be skeletonized for the same purpose. The wall of the aperture 18 merges into one wall of each recess through a smoothly curved abutment 26 whichV facilitates assembling the bail with the base as will be presently explained;

The bail is preferably formed of a continuously integral length of heavy spring wire bent into the required shape.

`s herein shown, it comprises parallel vertical legs or standards 27 and 2S merging respectively into horizontally disposed feet 29 and 30 at their lower ends. At their upper ends, the legs or standards 27 and 28 mergev into an ofisetv horizontally disposed connecting web comprising lateralI extensions or loop 31 which extends rearwardly and includes a smaller secondary vertically-disposed loop 32. The connecting portion of the bail is thus located outside `the specific contour or outline ofi the packages and so leaves them free for vertical removal from or placement upon. the legs or rails of the base. This connecting portion provides the legs with the stiffness they need at a point remote from the base. The spacing of the legs 27 and 28 of the bail corresponds normally tothe maximum width of the aperture 18 of the base including the recesses at opposite sides thereof, and the feet 29 and 30' nor mally extend in parallel' relation and at` right ang'lesto the major axis of thebase 1:7. v i

In assembling the bailand base, it will be apparentpfronji an inspection of Figs. 3y 'and 4 that the foot on one f the legs, for example, theY foot 29 onfthe leg 27 mayibe pushed freely into one of the horizontally-opening sockets 22 whilerthe bail as a whole is somewhat twisted suciently to permit the leg 27 to enter its vertically-opening socket 24. However, in order to enter the other foot 30 of the second leg 28 in its socket 22, it is necessary forcibly to twist the foot into some such position as that shown in Fig. 5. In this operation, the curved abutment 26 is conveniently located to serve as a fulcrum point. The foot 30 when once entered into the socket 22 may be pushed toward the front of the base sufficiently to permit the leg 28 iinally to enter its vertically-opened socket Z4. When this step has been carried out, the bail is resiliently held in its assembled interlocking relation with the base. It can only be detached by subjecting the bail to a twisting force of considerable magnitude, very much more than .would be ever accidentally encountered.

Having assembled the rack as above-outlined, one or more of the packages, that is to say, the vertically grooved cases -13 may be brought into interlocking position at the upper end of the bail and slipped downwardly through the loop 31 until it rests upon the base 17. As shown in Fig. l, six of these cases are thus held in stacked formation, and it will be clear that they may be removed one after another if desired, but only by lifting them against the force of gravity out through the top of the rack.

When the bail and the base 17 has been assembled as described above, substantial movement of the bail relative to the base is possible in one direction only, i. e. movement of bail legs 27 and 28 inwardly toward each other. This movement is effectively prevented, however, by the insertion of razor case 10 between the bail legs 27 and 28 in the snug tit previously described; thus assuring immovable engagement of the bail and base while the rack and razor case are so assembled.

As herein shown, an advertising card 33, formed of two plies of sheet materal encloses loop 31 of the bail. The two plies are secured together by staples 34 so located as to permit the card as a whole to be slipped up and down upon the vertical elements of the loop 31. The card has a central slot which registers with the secondary vertically-disposed loop 32 with a result that when the card is pulled into its uppermost position, it is free to swing upon the horizontal members of the loop 31. When in that condition, it may be swung into collapsed position as shown in Fig. 2. On the other hand, when the card has once been swung into its vertical position, it may be shifted bodily downwardly so as to enclose the whole of the secondary loop 32 and thus is held positively in vertical position as shown in Fig. l. The staples 34 pinch together the two plies of the advertising card and so provide supporting shoulders which rest upon the horizontal member of the loop 31.

The bail may be disengaged from the base 17 by reversing the order of the steps above suggested. The lower end of the leg 28 may be forcibly twisted inwardly to carry its angle inwardly beyond the end wall of the recess. The foot 30 may then be withdrawn from the horizontally-opening socket 22. It cannot be otherwise Withdrawn because the foot 30 is longer than the recess, that is, longer than the distance between its end Walls. When the leg 28 has been disengaged the whole bail may be turned to a position in which the foot 29 may be similarly withdrawn from its socket.

Having thus disclosed our invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A dispensing rack for supporting a stack of merchandise-containing packages on a retail counter, comprising a generally rectangular-shaped base member adapted to rest on the counter and having an aperture of substantial area therein and a pair of recesses on opposite sides of the aperture, a depressed flat ledge forming a bottom for each recess and vertical walls at opposite ends of the recesses, the base also having a vertically extending socket at one end of each recess, and

a horizontally-extending passageway in the wall at the other end of each recess, in combination with a bail of resilient wire having parallel vertical legs passing downwardly into the vertically extending sockets, and forwardly-extending feet angularly related to the plane of said parallel legs and integral therewith, said feet passing into the horizontally-extending sockets and each being longer than the distance between the two walls at the ends of the ledge, said parallel legs being adapted slidably to receive and hold the merchandise-containing packages in stack` formation.

2. A dispensing rack for supporting a stack of merchandise-containing packages on a retail counter, cornpiising a base adapted to rest on the counter and having a pair of spaced recesses in its upper face, each recess having an underlying door and a horizontally-extending socket at one end, and an upstanding bail of spring metal having parallel vertical legs passing into one end of each recess respectively, and horizontal feet angularly related to the plane of said parallel legs and integral therewith, said feet being longer than the length of each recess and passing respectively into the horizontally-extending sockets, thereby holding the bail in xed vertical position with respect to said base.

3. A dispenser rack for holding a stack of merchandisecontaining packages each having rearwardly-located reentrant grooves in their walls, said rack comprising a base member adapted to rest on a retail counter, and a bail made of a single length of wire forming a pair of parallel vertical legs secured at their lower ends in said base member and transversely connected at their upper ends by an integral intermediate portion of said wire, the spacing between said parallel legs being such that the legs enter said grooves to retain the packages against lateral horizontal displacement relative to said legs, and said integral intermediate portion of the wire bail lying in offset relation to the projected contour of the packages, permitting the latter to be readily removed vertically from said dispenser rack.

4. A dispensing rack for supporting a vertical stack of merchandise-containing cases each having a bottom member, a cover pivotally connected thereto at the rear, and two rearwardly-disposed oppositely-directed recesses, said rack comprising a base portion having an upper surface on which the lowermost case is adapted to rest, and a vertical structure projecting upwardly from said base portion and including a pair of parallel rail-like portions located generally rearwardly of the median vertical plane of said base portion, said rail-like portions being spaced so that they are received in said case recesses to retain the cases against lateral horizontal displacement relative to said rail-like portions when a case is operatively positioned on said rack, and said rail-like portions being connected together and stiifened by an integral transverselyextending rearwardly-offset intermediate portion the ends of which fall within the projected outlines of said case recesses, the remainder of said intermediate portion extending outside of the horizontal projected outline of said cases.

5. A dispensing rack for supporting a vertical stack of merchandise-containing cases having a bottom member and a cover pivotally connected thereto at the rear, and the rearrnost half of each case having two spaced similar but oppositely-directed external recesses, said rack comprising a base portion having an upper surface on which the lowermost case of the stack is adapted to rest, and a pair of parallel rails extending upwardly from socketlike recesses in said base and spaced to pass through said spaced recesses at the innermost portions thereof to hold said cases against lateral horizontal displacement relative to said rails, said rails being connected at the top by an integral transversely-extending member having end portions lying within the vertically-projected outlines of said case recesses when a case has been operatively positioned on said rack, and an intermediate portion oset rearwardly relative to the plane of said rails, and outside the horizontal projected outline of said cases.

6. A dispensing rack for supporting a vertical stack of merchandise-containing cases each having a bottom member and a cover pivotally connected thereto at the rear, and the rearmost half of each case having two spaced similar but oppositely-direeted external recesses, said rack comprising a base portion having an upper surface on which the lowermost case of said stack is adapted to rest, and a pair of parallel rails extending upwardly from said base and positioned to pass through said case recesses at innermost portions thereof to hold said cases against lateral horizontal displacement relative to said rails, said rails being connected at the top by an integral transverse member the end portions of which lie within vertical projections of said case recesses when said cases have been operatively assembled on said rack, the remainder of said transverse member extending outside of the horizontal projected outline of said cases.

7. For use with containers having channels formed in their walls, a display stand for supporting said containers comprising a base and two upstanding standards secured to said base in parallel relationship to each other, the upper ends of said two standards being connected together by a web, said web being comprised of a loop and two lateral extensions connected to said standards, said loop being disposed in a plane diterent from the plane of said standards, whereby said standards will be adapted to be received in the channels of said containers.

8. A display stand as deiined in claim 7 in which the standards are of suflicient height to hold a plurality of containers stacked on top of each other, and the loop is so constructed and positioned that it will support an advertising card extending above the standards.

9. A display stand as dened in claim 7 in which the standards and web are formed from a single piece of stift wire.

10. For use with containers having channels formed in their walls, a display stand for supporting said containers comprising a base and two upstanding standards secured to said base in parallel relationship to each other, the upper ends of said two standards being connected together by a web, said web being comprised of a loop and two lateral extensions connected to said standards, said loop being oitset with respect to said standards, whereby said standards will be adapted to be received in the channels of said containers.

l1. A display stand as defined in claim 10 in which the standards are of suicient height to hold a plurality of containers stacked on top of each other, and the loop is so constructed and positioned that it will support an advertising card extending above the standards.

l2. A display stand as defined in claim 10 in which the standards and web are formed from a single piece of stit wire.

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